Donald Trump in near miss in helicopter flying above Washington DC
Donald Trump's helicopter, Marine One, experienced a near-miss incident with a passenger plane over Washington D.C. after taking off without air traffic control clearance. The FAA is currently investigating the incident, though the White House maintains that the president was never in danger.
Why it matters
The incident highlights potential lapses in presidential security protocols and air traffic management in highly restricted airspace.
shares Share article Donald Trump came dangerously close to a midair collision over Washington DC earlier today in his military helicopter.
Marine One came within 1.2km in lateral distance and just 200m in vertical distance from a passenger plane at 2.30pm Wednesday local time (4am Thursday AEST).
Marine One taking off from the Ellipse earlier this week. AP Photo/Alex Brandon
This is about half of the distance considered a safe separation between aircraft.
An audio recording showed the president’s helicopter radioed the airport control tower to announce their liftoff from near the White House three times in three minutes.
When they received no reply all three times, the helicopter took off without clearance.
Moments later, an air traffic controller flagged the danger.
“Marine One, you got traffic rotating off Runway 1,” the controller said to the helicopter.
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